The Most Pointless Wars of My Lifetime . . . . .

Stinky The Clown

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Fri May-20-11 07:15 AM
Original message

The Most Pointless Wars of My Lifetime . . . . .

. . . . are happening right now.

My generation's war was in Southeast Asia. It was pointless and it led to the US' defeat.

But these Middle East wars are even more pointless.

And even more lacking in an "end game."

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JVS

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Fri May-20-11 07:18 AM
Response to Original message

1. Vietnam had a point. Not a worthwhile point, but a point.

Also, people might mock the domino theory, but Laos and Cambodia did follow suit. Still, if we'd done nothing that would have meant at worst having Thailand and Burma go. That would have been tolerable.

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HereSince1628

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Fri May-20-11 08:02 AM
Response to Reply #1

5. Vietnam did have a valid point...for the Vietnamese.

It was to finish French colonialism in their country.

The communist revolution in Vietnam was well juxtaposed as a framework for a war of independence against colonialism and capitalist ideology that justified colonialism.

Being on the wrong side of history is one of the things that has made for national ambivalence for support of Vietnam Vets, but that's another story.

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Stinky The Clown

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Fri May-20-11 03:29 PM
Response to Reply #1

8. Afghanistan had a point, too, way back when

The notion that they harbored the guys who fucked us up on 9-11 made sense back then. Many of us may have seen a different way forward, but the fundamental fact was, we got hit and it came, in one way or another, out of Afghanistan.

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HopeHoops

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Fri May-20-11 07:45 AM
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2. How about the "war on drugs" and the so-called "war on terror"?

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izquierdista

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Fri May-20-11 07:59 AM
Response to Original message

3. To say they are 'pointless'....

.....is admitting that you don't own stock in defense contractors.

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Bragi

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Fri May-20-11 08:01 AM
Response to Original message

4. The invasion of Grenada!

Okay, maybe you're not talking about pure entertainment wars, but in this category, we must never forget the brutal days-long war in Granada where U.S marines rescued tens of imperiled trust-fund students with grades too low to get admission into any U.S med school.

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Hannah Bell

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Fri May-20-11 04:40 PM
Response to Reply #4

13. oh, god, that reminds me, i read something about that invasion i had not heard before,

Edited on Fri May-20-11 04:43 PM by Hannah Bell

something about the medical school in question, just a moment, i will get back to you...

pooh, i can't remember the name! a highly connected american family had serious ties to st george's university, the school in question, i believe it was an intelligence family but i can't remember the details or the name... & i can't summon it up by googling.

anyway, cast a little light on that very weird episode...

too bad i can't share it because i am losing my memory. :>)

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Fuddnik

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Fri May-20-11 08:11 AM
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6. Every war fought during my lifetime has been pointless.

And I'm almost 60.

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RebelOne

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Fri May-20-11 03:43 PM
Response to Reply #6

10. I am now 72, and I remember the beginning of WW 2.

I was too young to know the meaning of that war, but when I reached the age of understanding, I did not approve of any other war, especially the Iraq war which was senseless.

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bemildred

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Fri May-20-11 08:47 AM
Response to Original message

7. War is the point.

Any war will do in a pinch. No war is what is unacceptable. Peace is "weak".

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Tierra_y_Libertad

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Fri May-20-11 03:38 PM
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9. The point is that even lost wars make money and that the American people are still suckers.

Erect bogeyman (Ho-Chi-Minh, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Muamar Gaddhafi), wave flag, send in the bombers, explain the need for more time, more troops, more money.

Works every time.

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themadstork

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Fri May-20-11 05:18 PM
Response to Reply #9

16. This is the point.

The state needs bogeymen, and it won't stop inventing them. Every five years there will be a new figure of Unthinkable Badness, we will bomb them, and the mix of anger/fear/confusion in the US populace will allay any anti-imperial progress.

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Amonester

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Fri May-20-11 05:56 PM
Response to Reply #16

17. And the upcoming BIG one will be from China.

Edited on Fri May-20-11 05:59 PM by Amonester

They 'add' 100,000 grunts to their army each year while less than 5,000 in the U.S.

The math is telling.

Was there any time in history without ANY war going on?

No.

Sadly.

Not gonna 'change' anytime soon.

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immoderate

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Fri May-20-11 03:57 PM
Response to Original message

11. Even WWII was a corporate driven colonial war.

The subsequent wars are largely revolutions, insurrections against ruling classes, the aftermath. Arms dealers always do well.

--imm

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onethatcares

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Fri May-20-11 04:37 PM
Response to Original message

12. 40 years of war and tax dollars spent and I'm tired

tired of wondering what todays' hero's are going to do for employment without limbs or portions of their skulls. I'm tired of supporting the MIC while entire countries are shock and awed into democracy. I'm tired of reading about 1-untold numbers of civilians being killed for the sole reason of being the wrong religion/ethnicity(?).

Most of all I'm tired of trying to think of things to tell my grandkids as to why we didn't stop any of it.

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Distant Observer

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Fri May-20-11 04:43 PM
Response to Original message

14. Pres Obama should have been our leader in STOPPING THE STUPID WARS

Edited on Fri May-20-11 04:55 PM by Distant Observer

But the war lobby is just too strong and all consuming it seems.

Even here, when I dared point out that a Republican is taking up what should be our
the anti-intervention flag there is outrage and demands that the discussion be locked.

The militant impulse matching the military-industrial complex is tragically powerful

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1141605&mesg_id=1141605

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IcyPeas

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Fri May-20-11 05:06 PM
Response to Original message

15. not to mention it's THE LONGEST WAR ever

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Distant Observer

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Fri May-20-11 05:57 PM
Response to Reply #15

18. Tragically, it should not have even begun. Seals coulda got Al Qaeda and Bin Laden form the start

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